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A special message to all alumni of Virginia Tech

To our Virginia Tech alumni, I write the kind of message I never
expected to have to write in my entire career serving the
university. On Monday, the 16th of April, a campus resident senior
student shot two students in Ambler Johnston residence hall and
proceeded shortly thereafter to the other side of the Drillfield,
entered Norris Hall and randomly shot more than 40 students and faculty
in several classrooms. He then turned his gun on himself and took
his own life. As I write this, 32 students and faculty who were
among his victims have died. Others remain hospitalized. An
ongoing investigation will answer so many facts and questions still
unknown at this time.

This is the most horrific scene in the history of this or any
university. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of
the victims. Our hearts go out to the friends, classmates and
others who witnessed this tragedy. A Memorial Convocation is
scheduled today (Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time) and will
be nationally televised. President and Mrs. George W. Bush are
expected to attend, along with Virginia Governor and Mrs. Tim Kaine and
other dignitaries.

This is a shocking crime with crime scenes that have attracted
national and international press, all broadcasting their live news shows
from the Holtzman Alumni Center. President Charles Steger, himself
an alumnus, has personally expressed with utmost compassion his
condolences to the families who have been notified and are still being
notified. His leadership through this tragedy has been
extraordinary. All of us at the university wish to demonstrate our
compassion especially to our students who have experienced a kind of
horror and tragedy that hopefully they never will again. We share
in their deepest sorrow and grief.

Other universities and institutions across the country, and indeed
around the world, have communicated with us to express their shock and
sympathy. Many of our alumni have communicated with us and also
with each other to share expressions of support as well as their
personal grief. I am confident that Virginia Tech will heal
from this in whatever time it may take, and will do so because of its
strong support from a family of caring alumni numbering over 200,000,
including our current students and all their families. The
faculty, staff and entire surrounding community are committed to helping
our students and faculty recover from this terrible, terrible
event. Those who will follow them will continue to embrace the
true meaning of our motto “That I May Serve,” that bonds the
entire Hokie Nation.

The Alumni Association placed a single wreath in the Campus Chapel
within hours of the tragedy, and the Corps of Cadets has posted an honor
guard with it to symbolize a university honoring those it has lost so
tragically. It is but one symbol of the enormous grief that an
entire campus and family of alumni around the world must bear.

Thank you for your genuine concern and expressions of support for
all of us at the university. And please keep those who lost their
lives and their grieving families in your thoughts and prayers.